


Tales Of The Past

by TransformersG1fan271



Category: Gravity Falls
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-05
Updated: 2017-01-10
Packaged: 2018-09-15 03:19:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9216305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TransformersG1fan271/pseuds/TransformersG1fan271
Summary: Dipper notice's something is very wrong with his idol Grunkle Ford. He hopes a camping trip will be just what Ford needs to open up about what happened during the thirty years he had been missing, as well as what Bill had done to him.





	1. Noticing Wounds

**Author's Note:**

> If you've seen this before it's because I posted this on my DeviantArt :)  
> Link --> http://transformersg1fan271.deviantart.com/

Dipper noticed it first.  
  
How his Grunkle Ford always wore long-sleeved shirts, even in warm weather that caused everyone to sweat around him. How he never let anyone get too close to him, aside from Mabel's hugs or the odd time Stanley would sling his arm around his brother's shoulder. How Ford became tight-lipped and cold when someone tried to push him about his time in the multiverse, often retreating to his lab for days at a time before reemerging and acting as if nothing had happened. It worried the young teen, confessing his concern to Stanley and Mabel one night when Ford had gone out to grab some ingredients for a meal he had discovered in some far dimension.  
  
"This is his way of dealing with stuff, always been like this." Stan tried to smooth things over, though the young twins did not believe him, and his conman smile fell with a sigh.  
  
"Do you think... _he_...is the reason?" Mabel asked quietly, Dipped instinctively taking her hand in his as brief flashes of Weirdmaggedon popped in his head.  
  
"Yea, probably is." Stan grumbled, having remembered everything about not only his life, but of what had happened during those days and the final moment he saw his brother's horrified look on his face before he pulled the trigger. That look haunted him some nights, Stan lying in bed even as he heard his brother moving about in his study or the lab far below ground working well into the daytime without a lick of sleep most nights.  
  
"What should we do?" Dipper asked, wringing his hands as he thought about his uncle suffering silently without wanting any help from his family.  
  
"I would say leave him be...but maybe we should go camping or something. Disguise it as a research thing, I know he loves doing that!" Mabel suddenly piped up, Stan nodding at the idea in approval.  
  
"That's actually a good idea." Dipper agreed, the trio planning the upcoming trip before Ford got home.  
  
  
As suspected Ford seemed quite pleased with the idea, the family heading out two days later with enough gear for two weeks worth of exploration, or in Ford's case re-exploration as well as meeting up with old friends he had made with several of the creatures before the portal incident. It was weird seeing Ford smiling as he reunited with beasts and made friends with new ones, the passion for his quest on studying the strange and abnormal making his eyes sparkle with curiosity and his hands seemed to never stop drawing in what was his fifth journal that Dipper had gifted him for Christmas. Dipper waited a few days into their journey to approach Ford one night, the moon high as Stan and Mabel slept in their respective tents peacefully, Dipper approaching the researcher who sat sketching on a nearby log, the fire and clip-on light illuminating the pages he needed.  
  
"Up late as well?" Ford asked without even looking up, tongue slightly poking out as he concentrated on his rough sketch.  
  
"Yea...well not on accident or anything, not really." Dipper stammered, sitting beside his idol and kicking his legs slightly back and forth. They sat in silence for a time, Dipper glancing up at the moon while Ford continued his drawing, sometimes muttering about calculations and observations as he concentrated on his work.  
  
"Great Uncle Ford...what did Bill do to you?" Dipper wasn't sure where the question had come from, internally wincing as he saw his grunkle stiffen at the name of the demon that had cost Ford most of his life. He paused his work, pencil tapping against the side of his journal rapidly before the tapping ceased.  
  
"He tortured me. He tortured me for two days, trying to get any information on how to break the weirdness barrier and make his way out to destroy the entire universe." Ford's tone was quiet and emotionless, blue eyes glancing up at the moon as he reached for one of his hidden wrists, squeezing the scarred flesh. "He wanted to kill you all, and I couldn't allow him to harm a single hair on your heads. I may be a screw up, but I love my family and I would do anything to protect you all."  
  
"Uncle Ford...I'm so sorry." Dipper bit his lip, looking up at his uncle with a gaze of concern. "I know I'm just a kid to you, and you've done so many things I can't even dream of doing, but if you want to get something off your chest, or anything really, you can talk to all of us. Mabel is worried about you just as much as I am, and grunkle Stan is probably even more worried. I could tell he was lying, it's that bad." Ford glanced at his nephew, shaking his head slightly as he closed his book and got to his feet.  
  
"Would you join me? I...I cannot sit still." He mumbled, Dipper getting to his feet and grabbing his nearby hoodie before he and Ford wandered off into the forest.  
  
"I'll tell you about my time in the multiverse..."


	2. A Walk In The Woods

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ford and Dipper take a walk.

"I landed in the nightmare realm first. It was a place that, in all honesty, was filled with things no one should see and fragments of worlds and various ships that were unlucky enough to be sucked into this lawless plane of existence. Bill knew I was there immediately, and I managed to hide from his goons in an asteroid, where some poor aliens told me things about... _him_...that I should have known I was a fool to trust that being." Ford sighed, pausing momentarily as a groupings of fairies fluttered by, the name Ford being trilled before they vanished off into the night leaving a glowing path for the two.

 

"What happened next? Did he find you?" Dipper asked quietly, Ford shaking his head as a small rock creature shuffled into their path, making an odd sound as Ford picked it up and gently stroked the top of it's 'head' as they continued walking.

 

"No, I just jumped into some dimension before he could see me, landing up in a strange world. The locals were afraid of me at first, and my dimensional translator had a hard time picking up their quick speech for a few seconds. They called themselves the Sky-Seers, as most of their roles were to watch the skies for some sort of disturbance, like myself. When I told them where I had come from they were sympathetic and offered me shelter and rest for as long as I had desired. They were very kind to me, but I couldn't stay for long. I had a quest to complete."

 

"What did they look like?"

 

"Imagine a giraffe, how their long necks give them the ability to eat from tall trees? They had a similar structure, yet were bipedal with feet as big as you and your sister, no doubt to help with keeping oneself from falling over, and their faces were similar to what our faces would look like, except their eyes were double the size's ours are. I have a sketch somewhere in my bag..."

 

"That's incredible!" Ford had to smile wanly at Dipper's awestruck reaction, much like his the first dozen worlds he visited. 

 

"It was...many creatures and peoples I visited were a sight to behold, their worlds nothing like ours or so similar I had a hard time telling the differences..." Ford trailed off slightly, a slight worn look on his face.

 

"I read about the parallel dimension...I'm sorry you had to leave."

 

"Don't be. I didn't belong there, while I appreciated Fiddleford's help, I could not stay there."

 

"But he didn't turn out like ours..." Dipper pointed out quietly, not wanting to speak ill of the hillbilly that now resided in Northwest Manor.

 

"I know, perhaps had I listened maybe he wouldn't have. You don't understand Dipper." Ford knelt down and gently placed the rock creature in some grass to scuttle away, his face grim as he faced the twin. "I wanted so badly to prove the Unified Theory of Weirdness. I was so consumed with my work and my wanting to show the world what I had accomplished, my greed got in the way. I destroyed Fiddleford because I could not let things go, and when Bill began to torment me and show his true colors I couldn't handle the truth. I like to think my time in the multiverse, struggling to survive in worlds we were not meant to visit while fighting horror's I to this day still cannot fathom...that was my penance."

 

"Grunkle Ford you can't say that." Dipper frowned, crossing his arms before the researcher. "Bill does things to trick you, he'll say anything to get what he wants. Okay, so ignoring Fiddleford wasn't the best thing you've ever done, but saying that being stuck away from home was a good thing? Grunkle Ford you can't even look in a mirror or hear  _that_ word without falling into a panic. I've seen you sometimes cry at night, when you think no one is there, and it hurts that you're not letting us help you because you think this is justified."

 

"Dipper this  _is_ my penance!" The man threw up his hands in exasperation, getting to his feet as he began to pace back in forth in front of the young teen. "I could have forgiven Stanley about my project, I could have gone to college with him instead of not forgiving him and going alone. Sure I meet Fiddleford, but was it worth it? Do you know how many times I went to sleep only to wake in disappointment that my brother was not there beside me? I could have fixed things, but instead I mad them worse. Stan thinks he the screw up? He's wrong,  _I'm_ the screw up in the family."

 

"How could you think that Uncle Ford? Everyone mistakes mistakes, that's what makes us human."

 

"Does it Dipper? I think mistakes just make us monsters."


	3. Cracking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ford finally begins to crack, and with the help of family begins to tell his tale.

Stan wasn’t too sure what Dipper had said, but Ford had closed up significantly and refused to even mention speaking about anything that wasn’t his research or just general talking. It pained him to see his brother turn away from any sort of assistance, as usually Ford had been the one to go to someone for help if he needed it, yet now he would just close up and turn away. He shouldn’t have been too surprised when one day Ford got injured from getting too close to some sort of monster covered in stone-like spikes that shot them at the older twin in alarm. Ford had fallen back with a muffled curse as Stan and Dipper chased the thing away, Ford slowly getting to his feet only to groan in pain.  
  
“I’ll get the first aid kit!” Mabel said quickly, digging through her bag and pulling it out, reaching to take off Ford’s shirt before he could stop her. The thirteen-year-old gasped in horror when the shirt fell to the ground, the first aid kit tumbling to the ground just as Stan and Dipper returned from chasing the monster away. Save for the few shallow puncture wounds that dotted his chest and right arm he had raised to shield himself, Ford was covered in horrific scars that he had undoubtedly acquired in the multiverse in his thirty-year span. What drew all of their attention however were two things, one being a tattoo of Bill, though it had been crossed over and over with wounds that could have only been made by Ford himself, most of the piece scratched out save for the outline and a slice of Bill’s pupil. The other were perfectly circular burn scars around his neck and wrists, right where Bill had chained Ford during his interrogation, the chains having burned him with the amount of electricity Bill had used against the researcher.  
  
 _“G-Grunkle Ford?!”_ Mabel barely whispered before the man quickly grabbed his coat and threw it on, fastening the buckles over with his hands shaking just barely.   
  
“Kids…why don’t you go scout out a place for us to spend the night.” Stan managed, Dipper pulling his shaking sister away as quick as he could and dragging her out into the forest behind them with a glance back at Ford. He had turned away from his brother, Dipper and Mabel quietly hiding behind some bushes to watch them in secret.  
  
“Christ Ford…” Stan took a step forward, Ford shaking his head as he glanced at the ground.  
  
“S-Stay away from me Stan…” It wasn’t often the elder twin called Stanley by his nickname, but his voice cracked on the name in a way that only made Stan walk over to Ford’s side.  
  
“Ford…you’re hurt.” Stan said again, one hand forcing his brother to sit on a log behind him with a frown on his face. Ford hissed on contact, but offered no resistance as his brother removed his coat and began to disinfect and wrap up his wounds in complete silence, only the occasional noise of a bird or some creature unseen breaking the uncomfortable silence. “Bro…you need to talk to me.”  
  
“About what?” Ford muttered in silence, not even wincing at the burning the disinfectant caused nor the stitches Stan had to put into his shoulder.  
  
“Everything. You’re gonna kill yourself trying to keep all that crap bottled up, and I don’t want you to have a breakdown.”  
  
“I can handle myself just fine!” Ford snapped, Stan giving him a glare as his brother looked away towards the setting sun. “I’m not weak like I used to be! I don’t need you to constantly be watching over me like the old days…I-I can handle myself…” Ford gripped his hands into fists, trembling as he tried to hold back the tears that seemed to just want to appear from nowhere. Stan was quiet as he continued to patch up Ford’s wounds, his heart breaking at the state of his brother who was trying desperately to contain all of the turmoil from within. Mabel couldn’t help but ignore Dipper and quietly walked up to her Grunkle Ford and gave him a big but gentle hug from behind. The act of kindness threw Ford off-balance, Mabel’s sweatshirt dotting with tears as Ford could no longer hold back the shame he felt inside, hands gripped into fists as muffled sobs escaped him despite his hardest.  
  
“It’s okay Grunkle Ford…you’re okay here.” Mabel soothed, her own voice cracking at feeling only overwhelming sadness for a man she had come to love just as much as her Grunkle Stan. The two were embraced for quite a while, Ford unable to stop himself from crying, but found that having someone nearby to comfort him helped with processing the turmoil he was feeling inside. Mabel refused to leave his side when they eventually got up to help Stan with rolling out the sleeping bags in the large tent, Ford saying nothing about it until they all gathered around a fire for dinner hours later.  
  
“Grunkle Ford…what happened between you and _him_?” Mabel asked quietly, Ford poking at his food with his eyes hidden behind his glasses which reflected the glare of the fire.  
  
“A lot of things Mabel…where should I start?”


	4. Speaking Of The Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ford tells them of his early days with Bill.

“Dipper, I know I’ve told you some things, but I wasn’t entirely truthful. Yes, I found some cave drawings from the distant ancestors of those here in Gravity Falls, and yes I foolishly read aloud the incantation because I was desperate to prove the Unified Theory of Weirdness. Yes, I was not approached until I had fallen asleep later on that day, but after our first meeting it was when he began to get his grip on me almost immediately. I started to notice that my body was sore sometimes, in ways that I won’t explain to you kids.” Ford looked down in shame, the fire crackling as he recollected his thoughts.  
  
“Take your time.” Stan said quietly, Ford nodding as he took a deep breath.  
  
“It wasn’t until Fiddleford left that he really upped things. He would wait for me to fall asleep, and then would take control of me and injure my body in many ways, from falling down stairs to raking knives through skin over and over. Not enough to kill me, but enough where there were times I would have to go to the hospital for treatment on a constant basis. He grew angrier when I hid my journals, often trying to drown me or choke the life out of me to get the answers he so desperately wanted, but I never gave in.”  
  
“Oh grunkle Ford…” Mabel gasped, hugging her uncles side tightly as Dipper glanced at Stan with a concerned look.  
  
“I deserved it all. I pushed away everyone as Bill predicted I would, and wasn’t that upset when I was sucked into my own portal right into his world.”   
  
“That isn’t right Sixer.” Stan grumbled, Ford giving him a questioning look as Stan pinched the bridge of his nose. “You cannot keep blaming yourself and say you deserved it. No one deserves what you’ve gone through Ford, not a single damn person on this planet.”  
  
“How can you say that? I-“ Ford recoiled slightly when Stan shot up from his seat, leaning over his brother so that Ford actually had lean back lest they ended up hitting each other’s heads together.  
  
“Now you listen to me poindexter, and you listen well! You made some mistakes, everyone does. I’ve made my fair share that’s gotten me banned from dozens of states, so I’m pretty sure I’ve gotten you beat there.” The younger twin glared at Ford as if daring for him to say anything, continuing when Ford meekly looked away. “I did my part to pull away from you too, so don’t be forgetting that either. So you made a deal, you were always too stupid to realize something that was so obvious, but you can’t let that eat you up inside forever.” Stan leaned back with a frown, adjusting his glasses as his expression softened. “We want to help you Stanford, but you need to let us.”  
  
“Family is supposed to be there for everyone great uncle Ford…even for you.” Dipper nodded, hugging Ford’s opposite side much like his sister as Stan sat beside him. Ford couldn’t understand why he felt tears rushing to his eyes once again, the man having not shed a tear since Stan was thrown out of their home all those years ago.  
  
“Just let is out Ford, we’re not going to judge you.” The concern in Stan’s voice broke Ford’s heart, the hot tears spilling from his eyes unbidden as he gripped his knees tightly.  
  
“I’m sorry…I’m so sorry for not believing you and for not stopping dad.” Ford choked out after a few minutes of grappling with his overwhelming sadness. “I was an idiot, and I should have done something instead of turning my back on you. Please forgive me, I’m so sorry Stan…”  
  
“I forgave you a long time ago Ford, don’t keep apologizing.” Stan cut in gently, blinking in surprise when Ford pushed the kids aside gently and hugged Stan as tight as he possibly could. “Nice to see you’re finally opening up…”  
  
“As am I…brother.”


End file.
